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Friends of the Brothers is the premier tribute to the Allman Brothers Band; every key member is closely associated with the original band. Guitarist/singer Andy Aledort has played with Dickey Betts for 12 years. Guitarist/singer Junior Mack has fronted Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band for 12 years. Keyboardist Peter Levin toured the world with Gregg Allman for 3 years and appears on his last album, the upcoming Southern Blood. Levin, Mack and Aledort all performed with the Allman Brothers Band. Singer/guitarist Alan Paul is the author of One Way Out, the definitive, best-selling Allman Brothers band biography based on 25 years of reporting. Drummer Dave Diamond is a founding member of the Zen Tricksters and a frequent member of the Assembly of Dust. He has played with Bob Weir, Derek Trucks, moe., Robert Randolph and countless others.

The members’ first hand experience with the Allman Brothers Band and their deep knowledge of the repertoire and the music’s roots and heritage allows them to play with an unrivaled depth. They perform songs from every stage of the Allman Brothers Band’s career.

with support from Jason Crosby

It was a risky move to walk away from the safety and security of his career as one of music’s most in-demand sidemen, but Jason Crosby’s decision to leave the road behind and experience a different kind of life helped plant the seeds that have blossomed into his exceptionally beautiful debut album, ‘Cryptologic.’ Split essentially into two halves, one in which Crosby plays nearly every instrument himself, and another in which he’s backed by Golden State stalwarts The Mother Hips, the record showcases both Crosby’s instrumental prowess and his unflinching honesty as a lyricist and singer. He digs deep on the album, most of which was written after his 2013 relocation from New York City to Marin County, California, painting vivid portraits of characters on the hunt for redemption and renewal.

Richly cinematic and enchantingly playful, ‘Cryptologic’ plays out as a work of catharsis, but more than that, it’s a leap of faith from an artist willing to push beyond what’s comfortable in order to follow his muse. The album opens with the emotional “Final Step,” which builds from a spare, finger-picked ukulele into a densely orchestrated crescendo beneath Crosby’s double-tracked vocals, which at times call to mind Beck or Grandaddy’s Jason Lyttle in their understated directness. The song, like much of the album, deals with loss, both literally and metaphorically, but accepts it with the understanding that the conclusion of any one chapter is only just the beginning of the next. On “Roads Are Torn,” he locates the beauty in isolation and sadness, while the alternately Stones-y and psychedelic “Below Horizons” finds hope in forgiveness, and the poignant “Goodbye My Friend” sees him reassuring the listener (or perhaps himself) that “it’s hard admitting it’s the beginning of the end,” but “you’re gonna find it again.” Though the album doesn’t shy away from heavy topics, a mischievous sense of fun still shines through. The record draws its title from a driving, bluesy song Crosby co-wrote with Bluhm called “Was I Ever There?” which imagines entries from a “cryptologic captain’s log.”It’s trippy stuff (the narrator is a piloting a ship through the fourth dimension), but it’s not hard to hear a personal allegory in there as Crosby sings, “When the light is right and I squint my sight / I can almost get there.”

If Crosby’s name isn’t immediately familiar, his keyboard/violin/guitar playing most likely is. The multi-instrumental virtuoso has toured and recorded with a who’s who of legendary artists, including Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Pete Seeger, Dave Matthews, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Robert Randolph, and Susan Tedeschi among others. He’s graced the stages of the world’s biggest festivals and appeared on television everywhere from The Tonight Show and Austin City Limits to Jools Holland and the GRAMMY Awards, where he played keyboard in the tribute to Funk with Outkast, the original P-Funk, and Earth, Wind & Fire. Upon landing in California, he took up gigs with Jackie Greene, The Mother Hips, John McLaughlin and Jimmy Herring, and Grateful Dead icons Phil Lesh and Bob Weir.